Wheelchair rugby athlete offers inspirational peer support to spinal cord injury patients

A Calgary woman is making a big difference by mentoring patients who've suffered from spinal cord injury or stroke, sharing her lived experience with others as a rising wheelchair rugby athlete.

Kasey Aiello works in the neurosciences unit at the Foothills Medical Centre, and says she's passionate about connecting with patients who are in rehab because she can share her own healing journey.

"When I first had my injury, I couldn't even move anything from my neck down," said Aiello, who is a neurosciences patient liaison.

She fell while snowboarding in Fernie, B.C. at age 20 in 1999. She suffered a C6 spinal cord injury in her neck.

STARS air ambulance transported her to Calgary, and she spent four months of rehabilitation therapy in the very hospital she now has spent five years as staff.

She now uses a wheelchair, and wants patients and volunteers in the neurosciences unit to embrace hope.

"I've done things that I thought I would never do. Just (by) sharing that, I hope other people will realize (what) is possible," said Aiello.

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY, WOMEN'S CUP

In March, she competed for Canada at the Women's Cup for Wheelchair Rugby in Paris, France. The team took home the bronze medal.

She says becoming an elite wheelchair rugby athlete has been an amazing experience beyond her imagination.

"Boy, it is an outlet. You wouldn't look at me and think I smash into other people in wheelchairs in the evening," she said.

Aiello says these types of opportunities lift her spirits, and she hopes to inspire the patients she works with.

"In the beginning it seems like doors close everywhere around you, and it can seem very hopeless. But soon more doors start opening and you can kind of be a little bit more hopeful," said Aiello.

MEANINGFUL PEER SUPPORT

One of her volunteers says she connects with patients in a meaningful and profound way.

"She's got a very positive and inspiring attitude. I think just showing people what life can look like can be inspiring on its own," said Jordie Howes, neurosciences volunteer, Foothills Medical Centre.

As a stroke survivor himself, he adds that they both want other patients know they are not alone, and opportunities abound.

Aiello also hopes other hospitals in other regions expand peer support programs in their neurosciences departments.

She's also a mother to a nine-year-old son and enjoys mountain biking when she's off-season from wheelchair rugby.